I hate running on the treadmill. One needs to be distracted while one is running in place. It’s a strange thing, the treadmill. So convenient, yet just stare at one for awhile. It’s weird. Show one to a farmer from 1817. See what I mean? Anywhooooo……

The songs of the day to keep me running on the blasted treadmill are “Groove is in the Heart” by Dee-Lite and “In a Jar” by Dinosaur Jr. If you listen to these songs it will be revealed to you how slow of a runner I really am, but whatever (say it like a floppy-armed-mutton-head: “whatever”). Remember, “it’s not the victory that makes it all worth it. It’s the STRUGGLE.” I am “taking it to the next level.” My goal is to be “MVP times ten!”

(Those Olympics quotes were just for you, El Jefe and Wanda!)

Picture it, if you will: My brother, “Enrique”, climbing up a mountain at an altitude of 11,550 feet. On his back is his own backpack (of course), his daughter’s backpack, and my 4 (almost 5) year old son sitting on his shoulders. Also, it happens to be raining, A LOT.

I don’t have a photo of this, so that’s why I said to “picture it”.

Enrique gets MVP. Or, perhaps MVH(?) since we were hiking.

This summer has been CRAZY. I have lots of pictures, but that will have to wait.

Here is an update of what’s been going on:

Right after school got out El Jefe took a solo vacation to Rexburg for ten days. Yes, ten whole days.

Two days after he got back, we headed to Lake Tahoe for a family reunion (my side of the family). It was heaven. I will blog about it later.

We got back from Tahoe Sunday night, and Monday morning El Jefe headed off to Scout Camp for five days. Yes, five more days.

Four days after he got back, we headed North again. We had to be in Washington on Sunday evening for El Jefe’s family reunion. After that, we drove over to Idaho for El Jefe’s extended family reunion. We went through five states in one week! We. Are. Awesome. Seven states in all! Or We. Are. Crazy.

Here are some of the highlights:

1. Sleeping under the Northern Nevada stars. You forget how many there really are when you’re a city girl.

2. Driving through little towns wondering if they are a nice place to live.

3. Walking through a lava tube near Mt. Shasta, CA. That was cool.

4. The views!

5. Sleeping in the most comfortable bed ever in Bandon, OR thanks to my brother “Hank,” his wife “SusyQ,” and her family.

6. Holding a live starfish. I love tide pools and seeing all the creatures but I don’t really like touching them.

7. Racing with my nieces on the beach in Bandon.

8. Looking at Multnomah (sp?) Falls and trying to get the perfect B&W shot to hang in our bedroom.

9. People watching at Multnomah (sp?) Falls. Seriously.

10. Running in the morning hours on the beach at Ocean Shores.

11. Finding a ton of sand dollars on said beach.

12. Being in the presence of the Largest Spruce Tree (in the world?).

13. Being in the presence of another freakin’ huge tree (a Cedar), but I don’t know it’s rank or comparison to other trees.

14. Being within 90 miles of Forks, WA and being able to get a better sense of where a game of Vampire Baseball might take place (that’s for all you Twilight fans).

15. More views and more driving (is that a highlight? Just the views I suppose).

16. Jumping into icy cold water for the sake of a relay race and dressing like a super hero to do it. Just ask my husband’s cousin’s son. Ok, it was just a wet suit, but Guy says my superhero name would be Iron Girl.

17. Finally water skiing for the first time in five years. Note to self: Just because you are a mommy doesn’t mean you have to stop doing the things you like to do.

18. Helping coach some cute little girls to get up on ski’s for the first time. (El Jefe’s cousin and his second cousin one removed?!) They were seriously close to getting it! (After I skiied one of them said “Good job! You did better than we did!”)

19. Riding the Rexburg Carousel.

20. Playing in the cool weather of Rexburg (thanks for having us Mom and Dad A.)

21. Watching Chunk #1 peel out in the go-karts at the “RIOT ZONE!!!” because he is now “four enough” (something the child has been looking forward to all year).

22. Making a come back as the “Lady of Catan.”

23. Staying up til 2:00 and cracking up with Dave and Lisa.

24. While on Temple Square, asking El Jefe’s Danish friends, “So, did you see the Christus statue yet?” I caught myself half way through that question but it was too late. The words came. We laughed at my stupidity. And we moved on. (For those who are wondering why that was a stupid question: the ORIGINAL Christus statue was created by a Danish artist and resides in Denmark. They can see it any time they want.)

25. Doing some triathlon training with Kristy. She kicked my booty.

26. Having my bike fixed by Ike. Thanks Ike.

27. Visiting our favorite store, IKEA.

28. Stopping and swimming with friends at Warms Springs Ranch on the way home. That place holds a lot of childhood and teenage memories.

29. Walking into our house and sleeping in our own beds (although Chunk #1 still wanted to camp or sleep at somebody else’s house).

Whoa! That’s a long list from just the top of my head. We made a lot of memories on our 15 day trip and we went over 3000 miles. El Jefe and I still like each other and we still like the kids, too. That’s good. El Jefe also just calculated today that he has spent a total of 7 days at home this summer. So, now I say, “Let the house projects begin!!! or Continue!!!” “Yea!”

Pictures will be coming soon…

Yesterday, I was working in the kitchen when my girl marches in with her cute little squeaky voice.

Chunk #2:  “Mom!  [Chunk #1] spanked me!”  (pause)  “With his foot!”  (pause)  “On my FOREHEAD!”

OK, the ending to that sentence was totally not what I expected.  She was indignant, and rightly so.  Yet, for having just received a “spank” to the head, with a foot, she seemed to handle it quite well.  When I asked Chunk #1, he fessed up right away (probably a little prouder than he should have been), and obediently went to time-out.

Dear siblings,

Do you remember the following rhymes?

“Engine, engine, number 9 Going down Chicago line, If the train should jump the track Do you want your money back? ‘Yes!’ Y-E-S spells ‘yes’ and you are not it!”

Or,

“My mother and your mother were hanging out the clothes. My mother punched your mother right in the nose. What color was the blood? ‘Green!’ G-R-E-E-N spells ‘green’ and you are not it!”

Or,

“Bubble gum, Bubble gum, in a dish. How many pieces do you wish? ‘Five!’ One, two, three, four, five, and you are not it!”

Can you think of any others?

I’m having memories of us (and the Abbotts) gathered in a circle in one of the shallow ends of the pool, with our fists held out, with one of us singing the rhyme and knocking the fists so we could figure out who was “IT” for “Marco Polo”, “Sharks and Sardines”, or “Colors.” Such great summer memories. I miss it.

Today I taught Chunk #1 the rhymes and how to choose who is “IT”. It was pretty funny. If you recall, the person who said the rhyme had to tap their chin since they were using their other fist to tap everybody else’s fist. Did that make sense? Anywho….it was funny to watch Jonah try to coordinate the rhyme and remember to tap his own chin as well as the other fists in order.

I love those kid moments.

Of course, his favorite was the one about “my mother punch[ing] your mother right in the nose.”

P.S.

Ok, I’m a nerd. I looked up some other rhymes just for fun and I totally forgot one of my favorite ones!

“Inka binka bottle of ink, the cork fell off and you stink, not because you’re dirty, not because you’re clean, just because you kissed a boy behind a magazine and you are not it.”

I took the Disney Princess quiz.  Here are my results:

You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.
Which Disney Princess Are You?

Wow, so, I’m Pocahantas.  Now I just wish I had her smokin’ bod.

I think I will. I’m going to marry Craigslist because I love it. I love it. I love it. We took out three sliding glass doors in the past few weeks/months (?) and I was having a “truck moment.” This is similar to my “cell phone moments”. I believe we will need to buy a cell phone when we have a “cell phone moment” everyday for two weeks. That hasn’t happened. Ergo (sp?) we are living in the Seventies (because we don’t even have a pager and that is totally an Eighties thing). But I digress. So, I was having a “truck moment” (and I’m sure my principles on when it is necessary to buy a cell phone could totally apply to buying a truck) because I didn’t know how else to get rid of the sliding glass doors. Then my sis-in-law, Lori, reminded me to use Craigslist.

Well, DUH! I posted the precious glass doors under the free section. I got an email from a dude who salvages items and recycles them. A light bulb went on in my head, so I showed him some other gems he might want to recycle. So not only did he take the doors but he took the trashed tracks from which the doors came. He also took our old iron fence that we mistakenly held on to for somebody who ended up flaking on us.

I love you Craigslist.  Just say the word and I’m yours forever.

Yesterday I went running through my neighborhood. My neighborhood would surprise you. It’s a geographic anomaly as it is 20 minutes from anywhere in the valley. True. It has tall, tall trees that shade parts of the street. It’s old, compared to the rest of the valley. I can tell that most of the houses have been redone, like ours. As I jog by I wonder what color bathrooms each house had. Ours had a pink toilet with a pink bathtub in one, and a yellow toilet with a yellow shower in the other. My neighbor once had a seafoam green bathroom. I know this because one day I saw that lovely throne sitting on the sidewalk, ready to be taken away. But I digress. I think it’s cool that there are so many people that have redone their homes. My neighborhood is a lovely little sanctuary in the middle of a bustling town. As I went running, the clock struck nine o’clock and the church around the corner played a tune with its bells. I loved it. If you were on the busy streets just a block away you never would have heard it. In the middle of our crazy city our tiny little inner city neighborhood is peaceful, and quiet, and every now and then, gets a song.

Back in February I tried to do a little photo shoot of the kids at the Springs Preserve. I’ve had some trouble loading pictures lately, so I now I need to play catch up.

This entry is dedicated to my Chunk #2.

I just love her face and the way she talks. She is talking in this first picture. I love it when she tells stories. She is very sincere and in between each sentence she makes a big intake of breath (much like her cousin “Eden”). Very funny.

Smile! Huh?

Mischievous, or she’s filling her diaper, I can’t quite tell.

This next sequence is totally a Chunk #2 moment. She gets really goofy sometimes. For instance, sometimes she’ll get up in my face and make her eyes reeeeaaaal wide and just stare at me. Then she cracks up. She’s coo-coo, a good coo-coo. I love it.

This girl is a piece of work. I sometimes don’t know what to make of her. She is soooo sweet and that is what most people see in her. She really is sweet. Let me stress that before I sell her out. When she was just a wee one, not yet crawling, she liked men. She would always reach for men, even if she didn’t know them. Now she loves women. As of late she especially loves her Aunt Jo (not her real name), who watches her once a week, and her cousin Chelly Belly (definitely not her real name) who recently painted Chunk #2’s finger nails and toe nails. She gets really cozy with them and she turns on the “I’m so cute” charm.

Here’s where I sell her out. At home, it’s another story. Believe me, she still sweet but there are times….

She loves to get the upper hand over her bro, Chunk #1. When she “gets his goat”, so to say, she gets this look on her face, like she’s saying “I have the power”. And she’s really proud of herself. She can get really mad at me when she wants to. Once, when she was 16 months or so, she was throwing a tantrum about something. I just walked away because that’s just what I do with tantrums. This time she kept following me around the house and I just ignored her. Finally she settled down and held her arms out to me, so I picked her up. As soon as she could, she started hitting me in the face. She just wanted to get close to me to show me how she really felt. I put her down and walked out of the room so she wouldn’t see me laughing. The look on her face, alone, made me laugh because she was sooooooo determined.

I won’t sell her out too much. The bottom line is, she’s a smarty. She’s been talking clearly since she was a year and a half and always lets me know how she feels. She keeps me in check. I love her little voice, it is so cute. I love her laugh. I love her hugs and kisses. I love it when she hugs my head and says “Mommy, I love your head.” I love it when she puts her cheek against mine. I love it when she dresses up in a hat a backpack and walks around the house like she’s going on a trip, or to the park. I love to watch her run in her bouncy way. I love the way she jumps. I love watching her draw or color, she is so concentrated and she just naturally holds the pen or pencil the right way.

One last thing about my baby. She just learned to pedal her tricycle this week. I am amazed at how quickly she learns things. Now she might be able to keep up with big brother, although, he’s pretty good on the bike. I’ll always love her no matter what. She’s spunky but, for now, I love it. Talk to me in ten years.

This is a stretch. I try not to share things close to my heart because then that requires me sharing something close to my heart (duh). Motherhood is one of those things. The minute Chunk #1 entered my life I knew my life had completely changed. Of course, when you’re pregnant you try prepping yourself for this new adventure but, in my case, nothing really prepped me. I read the books, went to the classes, talked to my friends, still, nothing prepped me for the brand new heart that I would grow on my sleeve. That night, as I held him close, I could feel the anxiety and fear wash over me like cool water. In a way, I pitied the poor boy because I knew he was my little “guinea pig”, thrown into one mothering experiment after another. I didn’t want to mess up but I knew I would, and that frightened me. I surrounded myself with books and tried real hard to follow my Mother’s Intuition, but still, fear seemed to rule my mothering. That really annoyed me, but what can I say, that was my path of learning I guess.

So, when it was time for Chunk #2 to enter this world, I did NOT want to go through the fear vortex again (sure, that’s what we’ll call it). I changed my perspective, had a lot more faith (not just in spiritual matters, but also in myself), and, even though the books are good, I needed to look to myself and the Lord. So, the night after Chunk #2 was born, I remember being so grateful that I wasn’t letting in any fear. I took her into our front room and rocked her all night. I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t overwhelmed, I was just plain old HAPPY, it was how a mother SHOULD feel after having a baby. I knew I would make mistakes but it didn’t scare me this time. Well, now I have to laugh because I could totally be scarring my children for life and here’s me saying “Hey, it’s ok to mess up sometimes.” They both bring me such joy, and they have taught me so much. I’m just so glad I don’t have to be perfect to be a mom.

Motherhood is crazy. It’s a crazy thing. I can’t say it enough. I never really wanted to grow up so maybe that’s why it is so daunting and amazing to me. With two children I feel like I’m walking around with two extra hearts.

But, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love these little Turkeys (mis pavitos).